A Full Week Behind Me

I'm on the home stretch now. I've completed a full seven days of the fast, and only have a weekend and a Monday left in front of me. Beyond that, I have three days of orange juice and soup, and then a triumphant return to solid foods on Friday. I can only imagine the kind of feedings that will commence around lunchtime on the 26th.

Yesterday morning was probably the most difficult of my entire experience. I felt absolutely awful, almost from head to toe, and the clouds didn't part until well after the lunch hour. My neck was extremely stiff, my head felt bloated and sickly, and my mentality was not positive. It was like I was going through the first stages of an ugly flu. I had the kind of dry, pasty flavor in my mouth that's closely associated with an incoming sickness, my stomach sat like a mossy rock at the bottom of a toxic river, and my focus was completely lost. I complained about the diet to anyone willing to listen on IM, (thanks to those that did) and allowed the experience to put me in a rotten mood for most of the day. So far, today (day eight) has been much more manageable, and I'm optimistic that I've finally passed the most difficult part of my road to purification. I do have a very subtle, barely noticeable discomfort at the top of my forehead, like an extremely minor headache, but otherwise I feel greatly improved from where I was yesterday.

After struggling to add some hard drive space to Autumn's home machine last night, (her factory HD doesn't play well with others... it refuses to provide an operating system if it isn't the sole internal drive installed) I settled down with her on the couch to enjoy one of our recent Netflix acquisitions: The IMAX presentation of the Serengetti. It was fairly good, a little cheesy, but a breathtaking visual and aural experience. The surround sound was working nicely, and the video (strangely presented in 4x3, not widescreen) was unbelievable. I found myself noticing small details in the video that would have normally gone undetected, and immediately wondered if it was due to the fast. I don't know if mental clarity and sharpness are common effects of this diet, but I was experiencing them last night.

Even more interestingly, I had a very sound night's rest. I say that's interesting because Barry, our enormous tabby, was doing everything in his power to make sure that neither of us enjoyed more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep throughout the evening. He was being a royal ass, screaming at the top of his lungs from the doorway, chasing Hesh across the bed, scratching anything and everything within reach, and then returning to his screaming. I eventually shut him in the bathroom, which Hesh took as an invitation to lay down just outside the door and claw at its base. Needless to say, I fully expected to wake up for my 9:00 meeting with a freelance client completely exhausted, grumpy and cramped. Instead, I woke up fifteen minutes before I expected to, fully rested, replenished and happy to be alive. Again, I'm wondering if this is thanks to the Master Cleanse. When I voiced my concerns in the office yesterday, Jeph said that he didn't truly begin to feel exceptional until his 8th or 9th day on the fast. My fingers are crossed, and I'm still optimistic about my chances of a similar experience. Maybe all of my pains and labors will bear fruit after all.